TVN’s NewsTECHForum: The Story In Videos

Trust, technology and the evolving forms of collaboration in a pandemic-stricken world dominated discussions at this year’s NewsTECHForum.

Broadcasters went through “10 years of transformation in 10 months,” as one speaker noted. Newsgathering and production were pushed into new, remote workflows, creative pathways to collaboration were forged and executives honed a sharpened awareness of news’ relevance and a need for more substantive inclusion on air and in its leadership ranks.

All of it played out against a backdrop of sharply polarized audiences, a widening chasm of trust in news at all levels and heightened dangers to journalists in the field. TV news’ challenges aren’t abating in 2021, but NewsTECHForum’s speakers had plenty of prescriptives for how best to meet them.

The videos follow:

David Bohrman, a veteran producer with tenures at ABC News, NBC News and CNN, exhorted newsrooms of all sizes to embrace emerging technologies like “magic” walls and augmented reality as powerful aids to news storytelling.

News executives from ABC News, Hearst Television and Tegna offered strategies for curbing viewers’ pandemic fatigue, keeping close communication lines with overstressed staffers and maintaining credibility through transparency.

Innovative journalists from AJ+, Graham Media, NBCU Owned Television Stations and NBCLX shared stories that broke new ground in substance, presentation and depth.

Leaders from CNN, BBC News Labs, ABC Owned Stations and Gray Television and The Weather Company framed out news’ push to more personalization and even more localized streaming options.

Executives from Sinclair, ABC News and Vizrt said live production workflows are moving closer to the cloud, but doing so will require faster tech development from vendors and new financial thinking from broadcasters.

Tech leaders from E.W. Scripps, Meredith, Hubbard and Avid described ever-growing refinements to remote workflows even as they eye a safe return to their adrenaline-fueled newsrooms.

Journalists and newsroom social media experts from Fox Owned Stations, E.W. Scripps, Graham Media, Newsy and Gray Television described a landscape on Facebook and Twitter of intensified audience hostility and the strategies they employ to deescalate it.

Executives and news futurists from CBS Television Stations, Graham Media, NBCU Owned Stations, SmithGeiger and the Local Media Association said that inclusivity, constant relevance and a more incisive read on audiences — and their data — will be key to flourishing beyond 2021.